Report from skipper Taff Lovesey
A well run festival of walking football at the excellent facilities at Birchwood played in good spirits.
We should officially change our name from Stamford Strollers to Stamford Slow Starters as yet again we took a few games to get out of the blocks.
Strollers 0 Long Bennington 2
A slow start indeed as we struggled to create chances against our friends from LB who fielded three 'occassional' strollers; Graham Curry, Steve Longden & Peter Climpson. A worthy victory for the LB lads.
Strollers 0 Spilsby 0
After over 7.5 months out this game saw the return of skipper Taff Lovesey to competitive football. Despite having the lions share of the ball and territory in this one we didn't create enough chances although a well worked corner late in the game saw Jez Hammant strike the Spilsby post.
Strollers 0 Grimsby Ancient Mariners 2
We continued to struggle to find any rhythm and despite giving the Mariners a good game they eased past us with a couple of well taken goals and some loose defending.
Strollers 2 Ruston & Sleaford (Lovesey, Marsden)
A slight change in formation with Lovesey taking up midfield alongside Dunkerley with Marsden pushing ahead brought dividends in the next game and we were worthy 2-0 winners following well take goals from Lovesey and Marsden.
Strollers 5 Barton 0 (Murrant, Hammant x 4)
New boys Barton struggled to cope with the movement and greater experience of the Stamford team and we cruised through this one with a 5-0 victory. Kudos to the Barton lads who kept trying though.
Strollers 0 Grimsby Corinthians 0
We knew this was going to be a tight game and that's how it turned out. When either team broke away, which was rare, both keepers were in form, especially our own Angel Goumal, and prevented any score.
Strollers 1, Gainsborough 0 (Lovesey)
Gainsborough were riding high and unbeaten going into this one. We also shuffled our pack to give players a fair amount of pitch time with skipper Lovesey dropping to centre defense. Quite a bit of competitive (but fair) physicality in this game as both battled for the win but Lovesey scored the only goal, robbing the Gainsborough centre forward on the half way line before curling a shot into goal. Probably our best game of the day and the win well deserved.
Strollers 0 Boston 0
The third game of the day between our friends and local rivals (two games in the 50+ league at Peterborough). Both squads looked a little tired in this one and chances were few and the final result of no score was not a surprise.
No cups or trophies and no points on offer but a highly enjoyable festival of football and a decent record of P8 W3 D3 L2
On a personal level my thanks to my team-mates who helped me ease back in after so long out with the ankle injury. I played in 4 of the 8 games and all went well. Hopefully on the road back :-)
Squad:
Angel Goumal (gk), Taff Lovesey (capt), Jez Hammant, Tim Marsden, Martin Donnelly, Brian Dunkerley, Colin Murrant
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